the Depression2013

The choice to head the Securities and Exchange Commission is Mary Schapiro, who previously headed the so-called self-regulation body of the finance industry, which did nothing to stop the extraordinary speculative bubble of the recent past nor to investigate Bernard Madof, who has now confessed to operating a $50 billion Ponzi scheme on Wallstreet.

	A foreclosure sign sits on top of a sale placard outside an home on the market in the south Denver suburb of Littleton, Colo (AP photo)
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Without a mass movement to nationalize the banks, there is a real danger that such people will simply continue the policy, under one guise or another, of transferring tax money to the banks and the rich who own them.

In an ominous sign that such may be the case, Richard Parsons, the new chairman of Citygroup, the worlds largest bank, , said a few days ago that it may well be necessary to create a new 'national bank' of the U.S. He did not mean a real functional bank which would be owned by the people. Parsons made clear that what he was proposing was a bank which would use tax money, most of which comes from workers, to buy up all the trillions of dollars in worthless derivatives created or dealt in by financial institutions like Citygroup.

Parsons' bank has already received hundreds of billions in bail-out money and government guarantees against losses. He is also former chairman of Time-Warner, and has strong connections with Walls Street and Washington. So his words - calling for an additional give-away of trillions to the banks - must be taken seriously.

With people like these at the helm of the U.S. government and financial institutions, it's imperative that a clear alternative to their policies be placed before the American people. That alternative is to Nationalize the banks.

With this measure, the American people would get something of value for their tax money - real working banks - and not just worthless non-performing mortgages and derivatives. With this measure, democratic control of finance by the people and their representatives would, at least in principal, be established. With this measure, the social, and not just the 'for-profit,' aspect of finance could take hold.

It's time for groups organizing around unemployment issues, anti-poverty issues, anti-foreclosure issues, and trade union issues to come together under a new banner: Nationalize the Banks.